The one way an education at a "big name" university has helped me is that people trust me more. I moved from academia (astronomy) to software engineering and I

The one way an education at a "big name" university has helped me is that people trust me more. I moved from academia (astronomy) to software engineering and I have no formal qualifications (or training) in what I do for a living. But once people hear where I went they assume the best. I have noticed this several times. In retrospect I find the way that class and education are linked to be terrible (you could pretty much divide the place up into rich people and smart people, with only a small intersection), but it wasn't a bad experience.